Are your lights on?

A while ago I happened to read DHH:s blog post The five programming books that meant most to me. Since the first four (Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns, Refactoring, Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture and Domain-Driven Design) are all classics that I either have read or at least know of, I was curious to check out the fifth one that I haven’t heard of before, Are your lights on? How to figure out what the problem.

The book isn’t straightly about programming but the content is very relevant for anyone involved in creating software: Before starting to solve the problem, make sure you know what is the problem you’re trying to solve and is it the right problem at all. Whose problem is it?

To go through the book again I’ve collected a table-of-contents-ish summary of the chapters and main points of the book.

Part 1: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

1. A PROBLEM

• What is the problem?

Try to find

• Who has a problem?

and for each answering party, try to ask

• What is the essence of the problem?

2. PETER PIGEONHOLE PREPARED A PETITION

• How can we determine “What is wrong?”
• What is wrong?
• What can be done about it?

3. WHAT‘S YOUR PROBLEM?

• A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived.
• Phantom problems are real problems.
  • Phantom problem: A discomfort primarily attributable to perceptions.

Part 2: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

4. BILLY BRIGHTEYES BESTS THE BIDDERS

• Don’t take their solution method for a problem definition.
• If you solve their problem too readily they’ll never believe you’ve solved their real problem.

5. BILLY BITES HIS TONGUE

• Don’t mistake a solution method for a problem definition – especially if it’s your own solution method.

6. BILLY BACK TO THE BIDDERS

• You can never be too sure you have a correct definition, even after the problem is solved.
• You can never be sure you have a correct definition, but don’t ever stop trying to get one.
• Don’t leap to conclusions, but don’t ignore your first impression.

Part 3: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM REALLY?

7. THE ENDLESS CHAIN

• Each solution is the source of the next problem.
• The trickiest part of certain problems is just recognizing their existence.
• If you can’t think of at least three things that might be wrong with your understanding of the problem, you don’t understand the problem.

8. MISSING THE MISFIT

• A misfit is a solution that produces a mismatch with the human beings who have to live with the solution.
  • Most misfits are easy to solve, once they are recognized.
• Don’t leap to conclusions, but don’t ignore your first impression.
• Test your definition on a foreigner, someone blind, or a child, or make yourself foreign, blind or childlike.
• Each new point of view will produce a new misfit.

9. LANDING ON THE LEVEL

• How could we change the problem statement to make the solution different?
• What am I solving?
• As you wander along the weary path of problem definition, check back home once in a while to see if you haven’t lost your way.

10. MIND YOUR MEANING

• Once you have a problem statement in words, play with the words until the statement is in everyone’s head.

Part 4: WHOSE PROBLEM IS IT?

11. SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

• Whose problem is it?
• Don’t solve other people’s problems when they can solve them perfectly well themselves.
• If it’s their problem, make it their problem.

12. THE CAMPUS THAT WAS ALL SPACED OUT

• Whose problem is it?
• If a person is in a position to do something about a problem, but doesn’t have the problem, then do something so he does.
• Try blaming yourself for a change – even for a moment.

13. THE LIGHTS AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

• Whose problem is it?
• If people really have their lights on, a little reminder may be more effective than your complicated solution.

Part 5: WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

14. JANET JAWORSKI JOGGLES A JERK

• Where does this problem come from?

15. MISTER MATCZYSZYN MENDS THE MATTER

• Where does this discourtesy come from?
• The source of the problem is often within you.

16. MAKE-WORKS AND TAKE CREDITS

• Where does the problem come from?
• There are two kinds of people in the world…

17. EXAMINATIONS AND OTHER PUZZLES

• Where does the problem come from?
• Who sent this problem?
• What’s he trying to do to me?
• Puzzles are difficult by design

Part 6: DO WE REALLY WANT TO SOLVE IT?

18. TOM TIRELESS TINKERS WITH TOYS

• Most of us have had schooling – too much of it
  • → We’re developed an instinct that makes us seize upon the first statement that looks like a “problem”. (This strategy works well on exams etc.)
• In spite of appearances, people seldom know what they want until you give them what they ask for.

19. PATIENCE PLAYS POLITICS

• Not too many people, in the final analysis, really want their problems solved.

20. A PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT

• Do we really want a solution?
• We never have enough time consider whether we want it, but we always have enough time to regret it.
• The fish is always last to see water.

Summary

As a summary: We often are experienced problem solvers and thus pretty enthusiastic on solving problems. Because of that, before going to solve the problem, it is important to remember to stop to think what is the problem actually, whose is it and where does it come from. This book is a pretty fast read and good reminder on this.